I ended up picking up the Geara Zulu...freaking awesome thats all I gotta say. Dont really hve much to add, but damn, all his accessories and all his joints are pretty tight and well articulated. For my first Robot spirits he didnt dissappoint.

asterphage Wrote:
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> I bet there's a FLAT in the future, if they keep
> going with the Turn A designs.

Man, I love the FLAT. It's roXorz. All the Turn-A stuff is awesome because it's so... Different. Practically anti-gundam.

Speaking of which, the Nano-Skin Turn-A is the bee's knees. I can't get over how glorious it is.

The only bummers are that the extended gun-handle has no real way to be gripped (could have used an add-on there) and there is no cow. Instead of those essential parts we get the mud-filled replacement fins for the legs. Huh? Odd.

The great thing is, not only did they recruit a great, brilliant designer who came from a totally different tradition, but they got the rest of the design staff to FOLLOW HIS LEAD. Even the contributions of Okawara and his fellow veteran Gundam designer Junya Ishigaki (see here) take from the visual vocabulary established by Mead and expanded by Atsushi Shigeta and the other principal designers on the series. The items that look out of place, like the Borjanon and Zssan, look out of place because they're very specifically designed to.

Yeah, isn't the primary distinction between the engineering of late-period MSIAs and Robot Damashiis the use in the RD line of those "hollow pin" joints? (which were pretty prevalent in the In Action Offshoot line, anyway)

asterphage Wrote:
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> Yeah, isn't the primary distinction between the
> engineering of late-period MSIAs and Robot
> Damashiis the use in the RD line of those "hollow
> pin" joints? (which were pretty prevalent in the
> In Action Offshoot line, anyway)

Do you mean the Code Geass figures? The early ones were somewhere in-between MSiA and RD. At least the ones I had, anyway.

The main differences I can find between RD and MSiA figures are plastics, size, engineering, and paint.

RDs have combinations of ABS, POM, and PVC plastics that make very durable. A few select parts will be rubbery to keep them from breaking under stress or to keep tension on a ball joint. A limb might be mostly POM with a PVC insert at the top to act as a socket for a ball joint. Hands and antenna are PVC, too. The rest of the body is usually solid and will click if you tap your nails on it. They are very satisfying in this respect.

RDs are usually larger than all but the biggest MSiAs. The EX-MSiA Sazabi and Nu Gundam would be about the same height as most, which would make them too small to fit in the RD line without being re-sized. The ones I have seem like they are around 1:144 scale.

RDs have much more complex engineering than MSiAs. The metal pin joints are but one example. On MSiAs the "torso" of a figure would be no more than two pieces - a "chest" and a "crotch". On some RDs the same area may have more than half a dozen separate articulating pieces - neck, left pec, right pec, sternum, waist, crotch, left hip, and right hip. Not all follow that pattern as the joints are built around the mech's design, but you get the point. The range of motion in the joints is usually over-the-top, too.

As for paint... Most don't have much, if any, as the parts are molded in color. Little to no risk of paint scrapes. The matte/gloss finishes are well controlled, too.

It feels like RDs are the successors to MSiAs in every respect. They're filling the same product niche with better manufacturing tech and at a higher price point. Bandai will be milking them for a long time to come.

RD doesn't really seem to be all that more respectful of scale than MSiA or EMSiA were contrary to what Bandai originally claimed. Within each individual line they may be consistent but releases from F91 are too large if you compare them with units from the other eras no?

The RD Stark is certainly larger, more detailed and less floppy than the MSiA Jegan

I'm waiting to compare the Sniper II to an MSIA 2.0 GM or the RD Gundam to either a 2.0 or EMSiA Gundam to see if this stays consistent.

Does anyone else have a LiA Ingram 1? Even before the OSiA Geass releases set a new standard the AV-98 was of a different composition and quality than the rest of MSiA. I guess sales weren't great though because it didn't lead in to anything?

MechaBlazeEagle Wrote:
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> This RS line sure is cranking out a smorgasbord of
> goodies that isn't nothing but Gundam.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I still like Gundam but it's
> sure nice to get quality action figures that
> aren't exclusively from Gundam anime!

Wait, what are you saying? Does your double negative mean the RS line is cranking out a smorgasbord of goodies that aren't Gundam? Your second statement doesn't exactly clear things up either. Anyway, I thought Paul already pointed out that the RS line has been only slightly more than half Gundam. Which is awesome for non-Gundam fans.

Are you a non-Gundam fan? Yes? Then go party in the streets because non-Gundam robots are getting more love than ever from Bandai!

Are you a Gundam fan? Yes? Then you should get parting, too, because Gundam robots are still getting the majority of Bandai's love!

Gcrush Wrote:
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> bluemax151 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It pretty much dwarfs even the MSiA Jegan
>
> RS figures are supposedly 1:144 scale. MSiA's
> are... Not the same scale.
Where have you seen it stated they are 1/144? I'm pretty sure they're still non scale but if they are I guess that's good. Still the RD releases from Victory can't possibly be in 1/144?

I'm really digging the WD Sniper II and hoping for a wide release so I can get like 6 or something :-). I'm kind of curious why it has a Ground type GM beam sniper rifle not that there's anything wrong with it. I'm guessing it's based on some of the art? They never used any beam weapons in Sidestory except for on the level (Simpson's Gap) where you shoot down the GAW.

bluemax151 Wrote:
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> Where have you seen it stated they are 1/144? I'm
> pretty sure they're still non scale but if they
> are I guess that's good. Still the RD releases
> from Victory can't possibly be in 1/144?

Eh, I should have said the Gundam RS figures are around 1/144 scale. The non-Gundam figures are similarly sized, but not similarly scaled. I don't think there's any "official" policy about the scale, and I'm too lazy to check, but peep the following images.

Here's some HGUC 1/144 Gundam thing next to it's Robot Soul Brother.

And here's some more robots standing next to the recent Bandai RG 1/144 RX-78.

I'm not busting out the tape measure, but a half a centimeter in height isn't that big a difference between HG and RS. I don't have any more MSiA figures, but didn't they split the difference between HCM and HG heights? Eh, doesn't matter. RS figures are so much superior there's really no comparing them to MSiAs.

so much cool stuff shown, but I have to wonder, what happened to the Shokkew from V Gundam and the Codarl from FMP? Those were two I was really looking forward to. Hope they haven't suffered the same fate as the GP-01.

Also, I really wish Bandai would label which items they intend to make internet exclusive. I'm totally jazzed that they're going to do the Gun-Ru from Code Geass, but I don't want to get my hopes up that it'll just wind up being an online only figure since it's A)smaller, B)not humanoid in any way, and C)a grunt unit.